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1.26.2017

Nintendo Announces End of Life for the Wii U

Breath of the Wild to be Nintendo’s last game on the console

The Wii U, released in 2012, is almost finished. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime told Polygon that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be Nintendo’s last game for the struggling system. "Wе really are аt the еnd оf lіfе fоr Wii U," he ѕаіd.

The Wii U struggled for four years to match the critical and commercial success of the Wii. Despite strong first-party games following the initially sparse lineup, Mario Kart 8 was the best selling Wii U game at about 8 million copies sold. Nintendo has stated previously that the Wii U’s production was ending soon.

As can be seen from the screenshot above, the Wii U is no longer listed on Nintendo’s website. Right now, the console’s “end” is strictly first-party games. There are a few more third-party games expected soon, although they are mostly ports of indie games like Back to Bed and Ultimate Chicken Horse.

Nintendo sent out its last shipment of Wii U consoles back in November, with the final count at around 13.36 million consoles. For reference, Nintendo shipped more than 101 million Wii consoles. There is some good news, though, Nintendo will continue supporting the Wii U’s online for “quite some time”. It’s assuring to see Nintendo support comparatively successful games like Splatoon, Super Mario Maker and Super Smash Bros.